South Asia conference on violence against marginalised women

CREA, a feminist human rights organisation will bring together marginalised women for the first time - sex workers, disabled, single, young, lesbian and HIV-positive women, and trans people from South Asian countries to discuss violence against women and strategies of resistance in a conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. Deadline for abstracts is February 20, 2011.

CREA is an international, feminist, human rights organisation based in New Delhi. that promotes, protects and advances women’s human rights and the sexual rights of all people by strengthening feminist leadership, organisations and movements; influencing global and national advocacy; creating information, knowledge and scholarship; changing public attitudes and discourses and addressing exclusion.

The Count Me IN! South Asia Conference is part of Count Me In!, a CREA initiative that demonstrates our commitment to addressing the marginalisation of sex workers, lesbians, disabled and single women, and trans people.

Count Me In! is a South Asia conference for women who have not been counted in. It will bring together marginalised women for the first time - sex workers, disabled, single, young, lesbian and HIV-positive women, and trans people from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to discuss violence against women and strategies of resistance.

What we do

In order to create a violence-free world, Count Me In! is working to:

Create more inclusive movements and advocacy processes, by understanding the violence and nature of exclusion faced by marginalised women.

Celebrate different forms of resistance that have worked to reduce violence against marginalised women, through film screenings and outstanding theatre, art, dance and stand-up comedy performances.

Collaborate with marginalised women, women’s movements, and policy-makers to advocate for policies that prevent and end violence against sex workers, lesbians, disabled, single, young and HIV-positive women, and trans people.

Call for Abstracts

The Count Me In! South Asia Conference on Violence Against Marginalised Women is committed to recognising and celebrating voices that are often unheard. We are inviting abstracts from participants who are interested in presenting their work at the conference, and in contributing to creating research and scholarship on ending violence against sex workers, lesbians, disabled women, and trans people.

Count yourself in!

Various intersectional themes emerge from women’s struggles across South Asia to challenge their exclusions from policies, legal reforms and economic restructuring. Histories of discrimination and resistance do not, however, always operate in similar ways, or have the same effects across disparate cultural locations in South Asia. We invite participants to contribute to research on violence against marginalised women by submitting abstracts on any of the following issues, or on related topics.

Themes

Models of Resistance: Strategies to Resist Violence against Marginalised Women

•What are the strategies of resistance used by various groups to confront violence against marginalised women?

•How have various movements drawn from each other – and built bridges of solidarity?

Marginalisation, Discrimination, Stigma, Exclusion and Violence:Looking at the Interconnections between Marginalisation, Discrimination, Stigma, Exclusion and Violence

•How is violence connected to marginalisation, discrimination, stigma and exclusion?

Identities: Identity as a Lens to Understand Violence against Sex Workers, Lesbians, Disabled Women, and Trans People

•What does identity have to do with politics and how does it affect the lives of marginalised women?

•Does identity politics result in exclusion and discrimination?

Legal Regulation: Criminalisation of Women's Lives, Their Profession etc. that Results in Their Marginalisation and Hinders Their Access to Human Rights

•How does criminalisation or legal regulation affect women’s daily lives, for eg. the lives of women in sex work?

•Legalisation or decriminalisation – what is more effective to combat violence faced by sex workers, lesbians, disabled women, and trans people?

Voice and Representation: Voices of Marginalised Women and Their Representation in Movements, Laws, Policies, Media etc.

•Which are the successful campaigns that have talked about the rights of sex workers, lesbians, disabled women, and trans people?

•How can strategies of resistance used by marginalised women be taken into account, to ensure that they are not looked at exclusively as victims?

If you are currently or have previously worked on issues of marginalisation and social exclusion, and would like to present your work at the Count Me In! South Asia Conference, please download the call for abstracts form here and email it to stripathi@creaworld.org.

Last date for submitting abstracts February 20, 2011.

Count Me In! will bring together marginalised women for the first time - sex workers, disabled, single, young, lesbian and HIV-positive women, and trans people from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to discuss violence against women and strategies of resistance.

When: April 16 - 18, 2011

Where: Kathmandu, Nepal

The Count Me In! conference is supported by the Dutch Ministry's MDG3 Fund. We thank them for believing in and supporting the Count Me In! initiative.